Abstract

Culture teaching should become an integral part in English language curricula, due to the intimate interrelationships between culture, language and identity. This mission has become more critical in Vietnam, given the country’s direction to turn English into the second language. This article aims to analyze the significance of culture teaching in English language teaching (ELT), by employing post-structuralist perspectives on language, culture, identity to substantiate the dialectical relationships between these factors. The article also aims to analyze certain challenges to culture teaching as well as provide some suggestions for more effective culture teaching in ELT in Vietnam.

Keywords: Intercultural competence, culture, language, identity, global Englishes, post-strucutralism.